Lionsgate, Comcast partner for multi-platform movie experience

Lionsgate and Comcast are expanding their partnership to create immersive multi-platform experiences for digital consumers, beginning with the launch of an app for the motion picture Divergent.

With more than four hours of bonus features and interactive content, the Lionsgate-designed iOS app, which is free to every Divergent fan via the iTunes App Store, includes an authenticated premium experience available to Xfinity customers with the purchase of the film through the Xfinity On Demand digital store.

Xfinity customers will be the first to enjoy Divergent movie scenes from multiple angles, walk the red carpet from the comfort of their living rooms with 360-degree camera views that make them feel as if they are at the première, embark on a virtual reality audio experience during a Dauntless initiation and explore the film’s fashion through interactive flipbooks. Divergent is available in the Xfinity On Demand digital store, which has consistently been one of the top digital retailers in the US, and via digital retailers nationwide two weeks ahead of the blockbuster’s August 5 DVD and Blu-ray début.

The announcement continues the successful partnership formed last year when Lionsgate became one of the first studios to provide digital content for purchase on Xfinity. As part of this ongoing collaboration, Lionsgate will roll out additional title-specific apps built around upcoming releases featuring premium digital content available to Xfinity customers.

“We have been working with Lionsgate and all of our studio partners to launch a product that allows producers, directors, writers, designers and engineers to explore and create next generation digital experiences that expand and extend the life of digital franchises across platforms for Xfinity customers,” said Matt Strauss, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Video Services, Comcast Cable. “We are providing studios with a platform to enhance the digital ownership experience by continually adding new content and experiences for customers that will immerse them in the worlds of these films like never before, first on their favorite mobile devices, and soon on the TV via X1.”

“We’re constantly exploring ways to use new content-gathering technologies to extend our franchises for digital platforms,” said Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution Jim Packer. “Franchises like Divergent create visually rich landscapes lending themselves to a whole new way of storytelling. The development of the Divergent app and its premium content specifically for mobile devices is just one of the ways we’re monetising our brands and driving demand for EST.”

“The app does a wonderful job of expanding the world of Divergent and creating a rich and immersive experience for our fans,” said Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick of Red Wagon Entertainment, who are producing the Divergent series. “We’re particularly excited that this is a life cycle app that will follow the trajectory of the entire Divergent franchise, and it showcases Lionsgate and Comcast at their innovative and visionary best.”

Xfinity customers who purchase Divergent from the Xfinity On Demand digital store and download the free iOS app can sign-in to the app using their Xfinity credentials to unlock over 250 minutes of premium online content including behind the scenes footage and exclusive red carpet content captured at Divergent’s Los Angeles première with 360-degree cameras. Enhanced content for Xfinity customers, combined with the app’s generally available content, create more than 6½ hours of interactive value-added material for Divergent fans. Next year, Xfinity subscribers with X1 will be able to access the Divergent app, and subsequent apps, as an Internet app on the TV through their X1 set-top box.

The app also features state-of-the-art DTS Headphone: X technology, enabling fans to share a surround sound experience using any brand of headphones, marking one of the first times this ground-breaking technology has been included in the special features of a home entertainment release.

The Divergent app is a ‘life cycle’ app that follows the movie not only from theatrical through home entertainment release and beyond but is designed to meet the demands of fans throughout the entire trajectory of the franchise. The next film in the Divergent series, Insurgent, will be released worldwide on March 20, 2015.